Following the market opening Thursday, the Dow traded up 0.47 percent to 15,543.23 while the NASDAQ surged 0.12 percent to 3,614.24. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.33 percent to 1,686.47.

Top Headline
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) reported a rise in its second-quarter profit.

Morgan Stanley's quarterly profit surged to $980 million, or $0.41 per share, from $591 million, or $0.29 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items, the bank earned $0.45 per share.

Its total net revenue rose to $8.5 billion from $6.9 billion. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $7.89 billion. Morgan Stanley's equity sales and trading net revenue surged to $1.8 billion from $1.3 billion.

Equities Trading UP
SUPERVALU (NYSE: SVU) shot up 14.48 percent to $7.75 after the company reported upbeat quarterly profit.

Eurozone
European shares were higher following the positive British retail sales data and bond auctions from France and Spain. British retail sales rose in line with estimate in June, gaining 0.2 percent in the month. However, the year-over-year figure was strong, showing 2.1 percent growth vs. an expected gain of 1.7 percent while May's year over year figure was revised higher to show 2.1 percent growth vs. the previous estimate of 1.9 percent.